Daniel Martin Thomas Sr. was born in 1918 in Powell Valley, Tenn. Never sure whether he was named for his great uncle, Dan Gibson, who was a Texas Ranger, or for a horse owned by his grandfather, Dr. Ditymus Thomas, Dan grew up in Cumberland Gap, where his parents, Ruth and Karl, ran the Pinnacle Hotel.

Daniel Martin Thomas Sr. was born in 1918 in Powell Valley, Tenn. Never sure whether he was named for his great uncle, Dan Gibson, who was a Texas Ranger, or for a horse owned by his grandfather, Dr. Ditymus Thomas, Dan grew up in Cumberland Gap, where his parents, Ruth and Karl, ran the Pinnacle Hotel.

He learned to play tennis as a young boy and began a life-long affinity for baseball while living at the hotel with his parents and two younger sisters, Jean and Muffy. Dan graduated in 1936 from Powell Valley High School, where he excelled at track, baseball and basketball.

The Thomas family struggled financially during the Great Depression like most of America did, but in 1936 Dan was able to enroll at nearby Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate primarily because of a work-study program. He would've preferred to attend a college like Maryville or Carson-Newman, where he could play football, but the good Lord had a better plan. Dan ended up at LMU, where he did all he could to make the best of things.

He made many lifelong friends while in Harrogate, and lettered in track, baseball and basketball. He also won the campus Tennis Championship all four years.

He did so well academically that, shortly before graduation, it appeared he might be selected as valedictorian. Dan wasn't anxious to make a speech at the graduation exercises, so he deliberately made a "C" in physics to lower his grade point average. However, his plan backfired on him because as salutatorian he, too, was required to make a graduation speech!

Dan graduated from LMU in 1940, and the next school year he taught math, general science and his favorite subject — history — at Powell Valley High School while also serving as the school's basketball coach. He used some of the money he made as a teacher to repay a loan from the Daughters of the American Revolution, which had helped finance his LMU tuition. At that point, he was ready to pursue his dream of becoming a physician.

In the fall of '41, Dan borrowed money from his uncle, Royal Fugate, to attend the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis. He lived at the Phi Chi Fraternity House during his four years there.

On Dec. 7, he heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor as he listened to the radio while studying at the Phi Chi House. At that time, Dan was already a member of the Army Civilian Medical Training Corps so he knew the ensuing war would affect him directly in the coming months. He signed on with the Army, but was allowed to continue his studies.

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During 1942, at the mid-point break from his medical studies, Dan was assigned by the Army to perform as an Aid Man for the urgent construction crews of the Army Corps of Engineers in northwestern Canada. One of Dan's most memorable stories about his time on the Al-Can Highway construction project revolves around warming his wool socks to line the seat at the outhouse.

Page 2 of 4 - A year later, Dan unexpectedly lost his father. He sold one of his textbooks in order to travel by bus back to East Tennessee for the funeral. Upon his return to medical school, he promptly flunked an exam, partly because of the textbook he had sold; but after a brief review of his circumstances with his professor, Dan was told: "Well, you have an 'A' average on everything else. Don't worry about this one."

After completing UT Medical School in 1945, Dan was transferred by Uncle Sam from the Army CMTC into the Navy at Gallinger Hospital in Washington, D.C. From there, Dan was assigned as medical officer on board the U.S. Destroyer Gregory.

Subsequently stationed at Norfolk, Va., in early 1946, Dan met a Navy nurse from Lower Peachtree, Ala., named Louise Baker during one of her softball games. He thought she was pretty good, and they hit it off right away.

The relationship, however, started off somewhat unconventionally. While at sea on the Gregory, Dan once sent a telegram to Lou, asking her to find him a date "with a Norfolk belle." Lou wired back: "No belles available. Would I do?" And, of course, she did.

Because of their duty schedules, which often conflicted, Dan and Lou managed only 11 dates before they were married in Harrogate on Oct. 4, 1946, by the president of LMU.

After honeymooning in Gatlinburg, Lou and Dan began their married life working for three months as medical officers at Black Star Mining Camp in eastern Kentucky, where they saw patients in the office and made house calls to see the sick and even delivered a few babies.

In January 1947, Dan started his residency program at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., where he chose a specialty in pediatrics. The Duke program provided brief stints for Dan at Wrightsville Beach, N.C., and in New Orleans, La.

Lou served as a nurse in both locations, usually earning more salary than her husband.

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When Dan concluded his residencies in 1948, the couple moved to Oak Ridge, to partner with Dr. Lewis Preston in his burgeoning new pediatric practice. Dan often commented that "Pres" was the closest thing to a brother he ever had. Their reputation in the community grew so that in 1957 the two pediatricians were able to construct a new office building on Tyrone Road — which they called The Children's Clinic.

"Pres" was very supportive of Lou and the family during the Korean War when Dan was recalled to the Navy to serve again as ship's physician aboard another destroyer, the Okanagan. He was supposed to serve out of San Diego for about 18 months, but Lou didn't like the idea of living apart for that long, so she and the boys joined him first in San Diego and later in Redwood City, Calif.

Page 3 of 4 - Ruth was born soon after the family returned to Tennessee, and life settled down into a nice routine. Julie was born two years later, and three years after that, Clay became the last of the Thomas kids.

Eventually, Dr. Preston left the practice, but Dan was fortunate to work for many years with other trusted colleagues — Dr. Gene Caldwell and Dr. Charles Campbell.

Lou gave birth to the first of six Thomas children in 1948 in Durham, N.C. — Daniel Martin Jr. — while Steven Michael was born in Oak Ridge, as were the rest of the kids. Patrick Andrew arrived a mere 15 months after Steve; Ruth Elizabeth was next; then her sister, Julia Elaine; and, ultimately, Charles Clayton.

The original plan for the family was to produce a baseball team because Lou wanted to have nine children, but Dan later explained that they settled for a basketball team — "five players and a sub."

Be that as it may, Dan certainly got a full measure of baseball and softball through his children. He coached the boys in Little League for several years, and Lou and Dan traveled many miles throughout East Tennessee attending the children's games during baseball and softball seasons, as well as football and basketball seasons.

Dan served several years as team physician for the Clinton Dragon's football team, where all the boys played in the 1960s and 1970s.

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During the 1960s, Dan served for a while as chairman of the Anderson County Board of Education. He also served several terms as chief of staff at the Oak Ridge Hospital. His work involved regular hours at the Clinic and extra hours thereafter when Dan would be "on call" through the evening and into the night several times each week.

He was able to work these long hours because Lou took such good care of him and the children on the farm they purchased on Cumberland View Road just east of Oak Ridge. Lou loved working in the garden and taking care of the pigs, cows and chickens they raised, and she handed out the chores to all the kids — and Dan, too — so that "Thomas Hill," as the place came to be known, ran efficiently and happily for the Thomas family until her illness in 1999 and death in 2002.

Dan quipped that he actually retired four times. Once from pediatrics at the Children's Clinic. Once from K-25 where he began in the mid-1970s; once from PEER Medical Group; and from teaching Sunday School at Memorial United Methodist Church in Clinton, where Dan and Lou attended for more than 40 years.

Well-known and respected throughout the Oak Ridge and Clinton communities, Dr. Thomas was often greeted on the street as "Doc," because the person he encountered had been either a former patient of his or the parent of a patient. Even decades later, he would be recognized in a darkened movie theater by one and then many of his former patients, and often recalled what sort of illness or injury for which the former patient had been treated.

Page 4 of 4 - "Let me see that knee where I sewed you up," he'd say, or "Can you use that arm today like you could before you broke it playing soccer?" And, invariably, the former patient would be amazed that he remembered everything. He'd downplay their amazement, often saying, "If I knew I'd live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."

In recent years, he took on a greater role with the LMU Alumni Association and was honored by the university when elected to its Athletes' Hall of Fame.

He also enjoyed following the exploits and tribulations of his children and their families. With Danny in North Carolina, Steve in Signal Mountain, Pat in Florida, Ruth in Knoxville, Julie in Maryland and Clay in Johnson City, he kept busy just trying to stay caught up on things.

Whether he and his loving wife Lou were interacting with his classmates, former patients, members of his Sunday School class, or their six children, 13 grandchildren or 16 great-grandchildren (so far!), he loved to tease and make fun with everyone he met, and, if the tables were somehow turned, and he became the brunt of the joke, he'd merely shrug and say, "Ah, well. A prophet is not without honor, save in his own home."

And there would be laughter once again.

His legacy is the sound of laughter and feelings of warmth and well-being among all who knew him … among all who remember him. He often quoted a poem that he had memorized by Sam Walter Foss and said, "Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man."